NFC Championship Game

So, yesterday I worked my last Bears game of the season, and what a great game it was! The day was full of exciting celebrity sightings. My first sighting occurred about two hours before the game. Those of us who are dessert cart attendants and help out with the Cadillac club buffet were sitting around waiting for our kick of meeting when one of the security guard girls walks by and is all "Ohhh, girls.... Chris Daughtry from American Idol is on the field right now. He's going to sing the national anthem", so like a couple of fan girls we ran outside to hear the sound check. We couldn't see Chris too well, but the sound check was nice to hear. My second sighting came about two hours later. I was serving soup at the buffet when I saw a group of young adults who looked like me like a bunch of punks. They entered the buffet area from a side entrance and were followed by stadium security so I was thinking "Poor kids. I bet the security guards think they may cause trouble so they are following them around." Then I started thinking "What are these kids doing here? Why are they just standing there? Did they even pay the $50 per plate fee for the buffet?" At one point one of the punks came up to me and asked for a bowl of soup. I was thinking I should ask "Um, are you even supposed to be here?", but decided against it. A few minutes later, I noticed one of the punks was wearing a purple tag that said 'Entrainment' so I called him over and asked "What type of entertainment are you?" and he was all "We're the halftime show," and I was all "Who are you?", and he was all "Fall Out Boy," and I turned into the biggest babbling fan. I mean, I don't even really know this group, but I have heard their songs, so I was in awe when I met them. Teoskii, the cook I was working with, took a picture with their manager. The manager was all "Dude. I'm not in the band," But Teoskii didn't care. The manager was famous by association.

After working the buffet, I went down to the kitchen to get my dessert cart and then we were on our way to the suites. After working for about an hour, I took a break and went down to the pantry to take a quick lunch. While down there, I heard a list of celebs who were at the game: Jim Bilushi, Kevin Costner, Barak Obama, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, Jamie Foxx, Will Smith. It got to the point where you could name any celeb and people would believe the celeb was really there. Shortly thereafter, me and my fellow desert cart girls finished visiting all our assigned suites and headed back down to the kitchen. While cleaning off our carts in the kitchen, other desert cart girls talked about which celebs they saw and which suites those celebs were sitting in. Once my cart was completely clean, my fellow cart attendant and I decided to go celebrity stalking. We took the elevator to the B level and shortly after stepping onto the floor we run into Michelle and Barak Obama. Michelle smiled at us and Barak was all “Hello ladies” with a big grin on his face. We later saw Michelle and Barak while they were on the elevator heading down from the suites. After seeing the Obamas for the second time, we went down to the SS level to look for Jamie Foxx since rumor had it that he was hanging out there. Turns out our sources were mistaken.

At this point, there are about 2 minutes left in the game, and it dawns on me that the people who work in my group have access to any public area in the stadium with our employee ID badges. My fellow desert cart attendant and I went out to the 300 level ticket holders seating area to watch the remainder of the game and the trophy ceremony. That was my first live NFL experience, and it was pretty awesome.

Interview time

My first internship interview is in less than two weeks! I'm kind of nervous, yet not very. After going through a few mock interviews I realize that I really like interviewing. During the 30 minute interview everything is in my hands, it’s kind of empowering. Plus, I get to talk about myself. That is always fun. Plus, you never know what to expect. You don't know if your interviewer is more interested in hearing about the cool stuff you did at your old job, or if he/she wants to know where you plan to be in your career in 10 years. It's an adventure. You never know where it is going to lead. Anyway, I hope this interview is the first of many.

In other news, I was selected to lead a Random Walk this summer. As you may remember, I went to Turkey on a Random Walk last August and had a blast. This year I'll be leading a trip to Belize with three other second years. It should be exciting. Our trip will be in the 'beach' category whereas my trip to Turkey would have been categorized as 'culture'. Going on a beach trip will be very relaxing after spending 10 weeks at an internship.

Well, nothing else new going on around here. I'll talk to you all later...

Recruiting has its perks

The interview season is quickly approaching. Yesterday we had wInterview which was an all day affair where we saw mock interviews, sat in on panels of second years describing their internship recruiting experiences, and participated in our own mock interview with a second year. I can see how the day was extremely for most people, but I had already attended most of the optional “how to perform a successful interview search” presentations hosted by career services already, so I didn’t get much out of it. The food at the cocktail reception after the event was awesome though. The highlight for me was the mashed potato bar. There two big pots of mashed potatoes, one white, one purple. The server put a spoonful into a martini glass, then one could go the fixings’ section and cover their potatoes with cheese, sour cream, chives, bacon, and various other toppings that were fit for a baked potato. This is something I will probably do in the future for dinner parties.

Some of the highlights of internship recruiting are the great perks. A few days ago I received slip in my mailbox saying I had a package in the mail room. I didn’t think anything of it since I am expecting quite a few packages this week. I went to the mailroom and saw this big ‘ol box with the return address of ‘General Mills’ (you know, like the company that manufactures Betty Crocker) and thought “What the heck?” I have a dinner scheduled with General Mills tonight, but I didn’t think they would send me a package before hand. I eventually opened up the box and it was a huge gift basket filled with General Mills products, Betty Crocker muffin mix, fruit roll-up, Total, Hamburger Helper microwave singes and a huge box of Cheerios! I don’t need to buy snack food for awhile!

Happy 2007!

I’m back! The last two months of the year were CRAZY for me so I didn’t have much of a chance to update my blog. Here is a brief synopsis of what I’ve been up to: I spent most of November recovering from my mid-term exam grades and getting ready for Thanksgiving Break. During the break my mom and I met up in Seattle to spend a few days together. Nothing too exciting to write about from that trip. After I arrived home I had about a week to prepare for finals which were held the fist week of December. I was really stressed out about them but ended up doing pretty well.

I spent the second week of December up in New York City visiting companies I am interested in interning with this summer. Overall it was a great trip. I flew in to the city the day after my last final so I was able to hang out with friends for a few days before all my office visits started. Those few days were very relaxing and helped me relieve some stress. Being in the city reminds me how much I like it and reassured my feelings that I should intern there this summer. The office visits were great too. I was able to talk to a lot of employees from the different companies and have a better feel for what a corporate finance professional does.

The day after I arrived home from NYC I flew out to New Orleans to meet up with my mom for a winter cruise. We took a seven day trip to the western Caribbean where we visited Jamaica, Mexico, and Grand Cayman. As usual, the cruise was fun. There is just way too much to do on the ships. I’m kinda bummed because I never made to one of the arts and crafts classes. I’m not really sure what you make in those classes, probably picture frames or macaroni necklaces, but it’s a great way to meet other people on the ship. For our next cruise we are thinking Southeast Asia after I graduate. Those cruises are real expensive, but, I hope to get a nice signing bonus which I can use to pay for everything.

So, for the past week I have been prepping for the upcoming internship interview season. My interviews won’t be stating for another month, but I know the next few weeks will go by quickly. I’ve already had a few resume and cover letters due to companies, so I know the big interview days are just around the corner.

Other things in my life are the same. I’m still working part time for the Bears. The team made the playoffs and has home field advantage, so that means an extra week where I get to make money. I also signed up to work some of the private parties at Soldier Field which will put more cash in my pocket. That is always a good thing.

For those of you who care, my love life is active again. I have been dating one of my classmates since mid-November. Things have been fun so far. We hang out a lot and he doesn’t get on my nerves, so I think I’ll keep him for awhile. This relationship has shown me how grad school can kind of be like high school. In early December the director of diversity affairs asked me about it since she heard about it through the rumor mill. I was all “Who did you hear about it from” and she was all “Two administrators asked me about it recently”, so I’m thinking these two could be two of the minority administrators or maybe some of the employees in career services, but, no. They were, Stacey Kole, who is the dean of the full-time program (she reports directly to Ted Snyder, who is the dean of the business school) and Ann Harvilla, who is the dean of students for the full-time program. So, two of the deans at school where asking about my dating life? Really? That just seems kinda odd….

Oh, and one last thing…., thanks to all you sent me warm holiday greetings. It was exciting to hear about your good news from the past year. I wish you all the best in 2007!